'We showed composure'

Cape Town - Aliister Coetzee praised his team's show of composure in their 54-13 Currie Cup victory against the Pumas at Newlands on Friday night.

The Western Province coach Coetzee said his team was under pressure at times.

"I was pleased with the performance and we did well in terms giving nothing away," said Coetzee.

"The so-called smaller unions would like the teams from bigger unions to play wide all the time but we did not fall into that trap.

"We created the pressure and we showed composure, playing against a team with a big pack.

"We also have to be mindful of our goals at Western Province, both for the long short-term and long-term. We are in the process on creating depth by blooding youngsters.

"We are also concerned about trying to implement what we would like to do against the bigger unions." Pumas coach Jimmy Stonehouse said he was disappointed with his side's first-half performance.

"It was not good enough that we came back strongly in the second half after some changes," said Stonehouse.

"At the start we just could not hold on to passes and made errors which saw us playing catch-up rugby.

"We (the Pumas) know we are going to be better in the second round of the Currie Cup. The big thing for us is to be competitive.

"But for now we need to work on the way we start the game."

When the Pumas returned for second-half play they wore a changed strip, much to the surprise of everyone.

Stonehouse explained after the match that it was his way of getting his players to start the match afresh - at least in their minds.

"We were trailing at halftime and by changing the jerseys I got the players to start afresh in the second half, regardless of what the scoreline is."